Pine City warms up for polls

SHILLONG: If you are in the Scotland of the East, the beauty of the landscape may mesmerize you so much that you may forget campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections is in top gear across the country. However, if you are really alert, you will realize that the hill town is politically active in its own quaint manner.
As you enter the city crossing the picturesque Barapani Lake, you may spot a BJP hoarding here and a Congress flex there, promising a brighter future for this city of pines.But they are not many. By the time you are at Police Bazaar, the heart of the town, or at Polo Bazaar, the ever-so-busy market hub, you will get to listen to heated political debates among locals who are more interested in local issues like influx and border troubles, unemployment and education, than what conspires at the national level. Once you are at the sprawling North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) campus, you will hear a political discourse that is completely different from what you are familiar with.
There is no point for guessing that the hottest topic of discussion here is the return of Purno Ajitok Sangma into parliamentary elections. After conceding defeat to Pranab Mukherjee in the Presidential polls last time, Purno, the elder of the two Sangmas of Meghalaya politics, (the other being Mukul, the state's chief minister) has replaced his daughter, Agatha, as the NPP candidate from Tura this time. Fighting against him is the Congress candidate Daryl William Momin, the grandson of the first chief minister of Meghalaya, Capt. Williamson Sangma.
Momin is a recent entrant in politics, having joined the party in 2012 after finishing his MBA from Bond University in Australia. "It will be interesting to see if the young gun fires against the old horse. The election this time will be a matter of prestige for Purno, who once enjoyed fiefdom in Tura. He will leave no stones unturned to win," said Fearless Jyrwa, a Shillong-based psephologist.
In Shillong, it is an open fight this time. Though the balance is slightly tilted towards sitting MP Vincent Pala, many believe UDP's Paul Lyndoh is the most efficient candidate. Whether that belief translates into votes remains to be seen. "In order to do well, Lyndoh will have to shake off his "traitor" tag. The dubious image has been haunting Lyndoh since he discarded the Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM) and joined UDP," said Edmund Laloo, a retired schoolteacher. Both KHNAM and the Hill State People's Democratic Party have refused to accept Lyndoh's candidature though NPP is supporting him.
Talking about local issues, Ever E F Sancley, a research scholar at NEHU, said, "One must admit that Khasis have created an invisible barrier between "local" and "outsider". The party that addresses the worries of the locals about influx, will definitely do well here. Outsiders are eating into the resources of the state. Unemployment is a big issue here. Lack of efforts on the part of the state government has made matters worse."
"My heart wants a change, but the head says Pala will win again from Shillong. We want a change because we are tired of the Congress government's corruption both at the Centre and the state. But it is also believed that Pala will best represent the people of the area at the national level," said Artis Shoshang, a post graduate student. "Our education policy is one thing that needs to change at the earliest. There is no transparency in the recruitment process. Teachers are almost always on strike seeking salary hike and payment of dues," Sultan Singh, another student, added.
The other contender in Shillong is Reverend P B M Basaiawmoit of PCF, who, with his religious background, may eat into the votes of both Pala and Lyndoh, as may AAP's Amerington Kharshiing, a former Indian Forest Service officer of Manipur-Tripura cadre. BJP has a marginal presence in the state. Though it failed to win a single seat in the last assembly polls, it has fielded Shibun Lyngdoh from Shillong.